People can use mobile phones to check on power outages during the storm

Wondering if Hurricane Sandy knocked out your electricity? The answer may be as close as your phone.

Dominion Virginia Power reminded customers Monday that they can report power outages caused by Hurricane Sandy and receive outage-related information by using smart phones and the company’s mobile website.
Users accessing the company’s http://www.dom.com website using a smart phone will automatically be connected to a mobile website that enables customers to report a power outage, obtain outage updates and view power outages by county and city.

“Our customers want safe, reliable electric service, and they want to be able to communicate with us using smart phones,” said Gianna Clark, vice president, customer service operations.

The mobile site allows users to access the full website of http://www.dom.com to read about the latest news and events and access other hurricane and storm center information.

To report an outage, customers need a few key pieces of information. They include a Dominion account number or the phone number associated with an account, and a four digit PIN number (usually the last four numbers of the account holder’s Social Security number) or federal tax ID.

Dominion has restored power to more than 40,000 customers affected by power outages caused by Hurricane Sandy. The company has more than 5,500 workers responding to the storm, including 2,600 workers from other utilities, using more than 800 bucket trucks.

Customers can also communicate with Dominion through Facebook and Twitter and by calling 1-866-DOM-HELP (1-866-366-4357) to report additional information related to their outage situation.